Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Taking liberty if you could pardon me, I would like to start from a quote I picked up from the book by Hillman curtis on creating short film For the web:

"Perhaps it sounds ridiculous, but the best thing that young filmmakers should do is to get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all"

I consider myself on this transition path, path which sometime branches off to upteem myriad paths be it circular or directional triangle and after sometime you are back where you began or sometimes a pathway is seen and you decide to head off that way in a hurry to reach this summit of creative exhaution. I started off as a reluctant web content writer then discovered Premiere Pro and reached my prime when Final Cut Pro adopted me, in between this phase was called regularly on some creative haunts with Photoshop. And since I had a background in Analog photography, after digital photography got cheaper and available, the innundation of the millions of still images made my date with photoshop a regularity. During these transitional phase I regularly followed what "Hillman" was doing. The world of motion graphics seemed like this epitome of creative freedom and I kept telling myself, "let me get over the raster softwares first, then will look over to the vector side and perhaps Macromedia FLASH will adopt me next" Three years passes by suddenly "Hillman" transcends himself to this new medium of expression VIDEO. I quote from his book

"I am still very much a designer, but I've become a filmmaker as well, though not in the traditional sense, as I shoot my films digitally and stream them on the Web. I feel different from the New Media designer I was when I wrote my last book, MTIV: process, inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer, in 2002. I've even begun introducing myself as a designer and a filmmaker at social gathering, and it feels good - like a promise."

"Hillman" directed and co-produced this film on one of the central figures of Conceptual art -Lawrence Weiner

Something similar was happenning to me, I started teaching Photoshop to first timers, the same students I would introduce Computer application in the earlier semester and later would hold the mouse for them and introduce them to the world of graphic design. I never underwent any formal traning in Graphic Design, but been exposed to that air for so long and soon i started appreciating artist like Warhol and lawrence weiner. The marraige of graphic design with motion graphic and digital video was organic and the potion was eclectic. I started watching videos made by "hillman" it just inspired me to rediscover the medium of digital video through the eye of a graphic designer.

Today Design is far more difficult term for me to formalise than a few years back, where should i start from - creative titling using fusion or separation techniques I learned while uncovering typography or non-linear editing when rolling over figure/ground relationship. Its all mixed up now and through trial-and-error and new art form is not a distant possibility. I like the fluidity of "hillman's" work, it inspires me to create and keep on creating, working on concepts and undergo that change within, you are looking for during the process of the production.

In his latest book, he talks about the various checklist before you head off for a shoot and going case by case, he describes the various difficulities he faced during each of his project. The description is enlightening, I will try to add on to what he mentions and hope it inspire you as well to start speaking up, get inspired and come out on his wonderful journey of filmmaking.

[D. Hillman Curtis is an American new media designer, author, and filmmaker. Curtis is the Principal and Chief Creative Officer of hillmancurtis.com, inc., a digital design firm in New York City. Previously, he was design director for Macromedia. He has published four books on new media design.Curtis was listed by the Internet Professional Publisher Association in its DesignerONE awards for 2001-2002 as one of the top ten web designers.[1] He has designed sites for Yahoo, Adobe, Metropolitan Opera and others .[2]. Canoë magazine called him le pape du Flash (the Pope of Flash) in 2000.[3] Glide magazine labels him the "Michael Jordan of web design".[4]As a filmmaker he first gained notoriety with his online "Artist Series" — short documentaries on designers/artists including Milton Glaser, Paula Scher, David Carson, Stefan Sagmeister, James Victore, Pentagram Design Group, and the filmmaker Mark Romanek. He also has made several short dramatic films.]